KittenFishMom

@PineSong I can give it a shot Monday afternoon. The stores shouldn't be too busy then.

@PineSong I am getting to the point that I am crying when I look at the tanks. I just don't have any connection for moving these fish on. I have put so much into getting them to stop multiplying. I am taking the best care of them I can. It is becoming obvious now that no one wants them at all. I am trying to think through if I can face them living here 2 years until they die off. Waiting for new born pets to die of old age seems pretty bad. It sure isn't why I bought fish in the beginning. I'm not trying to make money, or break even, but I think It may be time for me to get out of the fish hobby game. There just isn't anyplace to take all the fish.

I called the SPCA, but they haven't returned my call. I would be surprised if the did call me back. There is a creepy person on craigslist in this area who deals with fish and fish equipment, I don't want to have to deal with him again, so I don't want to use craigslist. I do not think that the CNYAS will let me give fish away at their swap meet when they are trying to make money, but I asked anyway. I have had 24 views on my fish swap post. I have had no inquires. How long do you think I should give the post before giving up on the post? Trying to give them away on a street corner to people who don't have fish tanks seems cruel. Is there anything else I can do to rehome this guppies? .

No one has replied to my forum swap post. I wrote to CNYAS to see if I can bring guppies to give away at their swap meet 9/25. I may call the SPCA and see if they will take fish. It would cost a lot to fill the 55 gallon tank with bottled spring water, and I still need to clean it with peroxide before adding the water. I am running out of options. Now that the males are getting aggressive, I feel like I am running out of time too. Anyone have any ideas on home to rehome guppies that doesn't involve craigslist?

I just read the ACO article about shipping fish by mail. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/how-to-ship-live-fish?_pos=1&_sid=7995ebb7f&_ss=r It doesn't sound like This would be a good way to rehome a lot of fish, only small numbers. If anyone has advice on shipping say about 40 or 50 fish safely, let me know. I have read that younger fish deal with shipping better than adults. I probably have 40 or more younger fish to rehome too. I ask the LFS if I could rent a tank to avoid euthanizing the fish, but he said he didn't have any way to open up more tanks, and all his tanks were full.

@PineSong These are really strong guppies, they have "been there done that" and lived to tell about it. They made it through some tough times while Mom was ill. They had dirty water and low food when we couldn't get to the cottage often. They are also very mellow. the cats chase each other across the tops of the tanks, and the fish don't flinch. The cats like to sit on top and drink from the HOB. They should add strength to any line. No one has contacted me about them. I know nothing about shipping fish. Unfortunately these mutts probably are worth the postage to anyone but me.

When my tank went cloudy I had an HOB, a large sponge filter and and air stone in the HOB. Anyone of them would have been rated for up to 20 gallons, and I only had 10. I always have extra air stones. That may have helped my cloudiness clear up faster as the bacteria could break things down faster. The corys, neon tetras and the betta are all fine. I haven't seen to 2 yoyo loach from the big box store in a day or 2, but they might be hiding. I gave up on seeing them after a few days, and then one evening they were swimming all over the tank. There are plants and hollow places for them to hide. I was sure they were dead and eaten when they appeared out of no where last time. I don't think I could net them if I wanted to without taking everything out of the tank.

The nice LFS keeps saying I need to wait another week or 2, so I posted the guppies for free, local pick. Will be adding photos shortly. Wish the fish luck !

My son goes to "Maker Space" where people get together and build and invent things. They have meeting once a week. People who are inventing things bounce ideas off each other and get advice in fields they are not trained in. My son decided to take a huge old movie camera and turn it into a projector for the same film for a steam punk costume. He used the original wind up motor and gears and LEDs as a light source and projected through the original lens. It was a good bit of tricky work in tight spaces. It worked nicely. I forgot to say that the body of the camera was polished wood. very steampunk looking

@Streetwise I haven't tried a knitting club, but I might this winter. I tend to keep my knitting with my. I knit while waiting for an appointment, or for a movie or class to start.

Should I say I also like to needle tat when my thumbs are acting up? I learned that from YouTube too. Very portable. After you buy a few inexpensive needles and thread, you are good to go. You can spend an arm and a leg on knitting tools, never mind expensive yarn, I think needle tatting would be a great kids hobby. As I remember that are only 2 stiches. You can make pretty things like snow flakes. You stick pin them to cardboard and spray with spray starch if you want to get fancy. I think know one does it anymore because the store don't make much money on it compared to knitting or embroidery.

I feel BOTH is really the only way to go. I like to have at least one of each in a tank. If you the power goes out, the sponge filter restarts without priming. If you want to take a look at what is being filter out of the water, the HOB media shows you. If you only clean one of the 2, at a water change, your not likely to kill you cycle (like I did when I clean both). I like extra sponge filters for starting other tanks and extra HOB for nitrogen eating plant like lucky bamboo or a leafy turnip. (I should get some of those going again. Handle the turnip from the veggie dept at the store gently, a hard bump will give a place for rot to start. Once the leaves are out, the roots really gobble the nitrogen and look interesting growing down from the spillway. Fry love hiding in them.)

I grew up on Ransome. Life by the water has always been wonderful for me. Some folks here put a lot of time and money into trying to control the lakeweeds. The cracked corn won't sprout, and is not causing anything but happy carp and catfish clearing the seaweed while I sleep. The fish never ask for overtime. I would rather work with nature than fight it. We also bought a used pool pump and have a huge fountain on our dock. We have 4 big heads we switch in and out for variety. The fountain is fun and pretty. It aerates the water for the fish. It cools the water a bit and really moves it around, cutting down on mosquitoes. It's nice sound covers people talking outside, so the neighbors feel farther away. The ducks and geese play in it and the kids like to see how close they can get their kayaks without getting wet. It provides a cooling mist when the wind is right. You never know what fun lurks in a second hand shop.

@Flumpweesel From what I understand, Jumping worms are from South East Asia. eggs could have arrived on shoes etc. The adult die in the fall, but the eggs hatch in the spring. They are impossible to get rid of, once an area gets them. They stunt forest growth. I have piles of seaweed(lakeweed?) that I water and cover so it draws them to the dampness. They really live in leaf litter, at the surface of the soil. Very easy to gather, not digging needed. They are not great bait because they skin is very weak and the fish can rip them from the hooks. They can literally jump into the air. Unfortunately, I never see any local wildlife eating them. You can't find them in the spring, but by mid summer, infested areas are full of them. You can tell when fall is coming because you turn over a log for worms and see toads and salamanders settling in for the winter.

I have gotten into the habit of over feeding my tanks. To try to concur this habit, I have been gathering invasive jumping worms and feeding them to the fish in the lake. The school of fish that meet me at the end of the dock keeps getting bigger, and really love the extra food. I also tend to over gravel vac, but no way am I going to start gavel vac-ing the lake ! We have been gathering lakeweeds to turn some gravel on shore into soil. I "hire" the carp and bullheads to dug the lakeweeds out of the mud by lightly spreading cracked corn at sunset. The fish dig around the roots for the corn, covering other corn and up root the water weeds. The more they work the more cracked corn they cover and uncover. In the morning we gather the now floating plants, roots and all. It is so much easier that uprooting the plants ourselves. The fish seem to think it is a good deal too. I only spread the cracked corn as far as I can toss it from the dock, so there is lots of cover for the fish that doesn't get bothered. If the fish leave any corn, the geese and ducks eat it at sun rise. It takes very little corn, I am on my third 50 pound bag this summer. That is for 2 docks at different cottages. Note: The key words are "very little". When the fish are hungry, they work and work.... but when they are full, they are done, they leave to take a nap someplace else.

OK, I'm well rested and well fed and ready to tackle this. What percent water change do you recommend, before I make matters worse?

@PineSong I learned everything I know about knitting from YouTube. You can start and stop and back up a video 100's of times, and no one rolls theirs eyes. If you don't like the way someone explains a stick, you just find someone else to explain it. No hard feelings at all. Ravelry.com is free and WONDERFUL !!

@_Eric_ I think the nitrites showed up today, and were not there yesterday. I probably over fed a bit, or stirred old food up when I moved the plant. We could slow the rate with baffles and intake sponges and most HOB have an adjustment to lower the rate for long finned fish, but I don't want to go there just yet. We could even pipe the water in a spiral around the light. Just need to talk to a glass blower. Ithaca is a collage town. Lots of little shops have glass blowers who do custom work, just not normally for fish aquariums.

The webbing stuff appeared the day after I noticed the well water was cloudy. It looked like super magnified mold with long arms. a lot like electron microscope images, but with the naked eye. It clogged the sponge filters, and crashed the cycles. It was crazy until Mom's drs called and we had to pack leave the cottage in about 20 minutes. Then crazy really ramped up with caring for Mom. We didn't get back to the cottage for 3 days. We thought we were just going to be tied up for 2 weeks.

@modified lung True, I don't trust the water companies all that much. When the well clouded up and the UV filter did not kill everything in the water coming into the house and several tank got weird webby looking stuff and tanks went down hill fast, we didn't know that a week later Mom could never be left alone, (Drs hoped for max 2 week, but it was until she died). We were talking about boiling pots of water for water changes. Cory from Aquarium Co-Op even said to go with the bottled spring water. We were way too busy caring for Mom to get things figured out and fixed at first, then things got worse. We still picking up the pieces. I am sure the transition back to well water will be a bit bumpy too, but it won't be abrupt like the switch to bottle spring water. We were just about to shock the well when the holding tank alarm went off and the people who normally pump it are out of service for a month, so we were put on the end of the lists of the other companies. In the mean time, we are using the pumping 3 cottages away for ourselves while we wait to get pumped out. Then we shock the well and have it tested and then can use it in the tanks again. You can't make this stuff up. P.S. We tested the spring water frequently before using it. No chlorine and not much flocculation, so that was good.

@colu Thanks. It has been months and months of things going wrong, not just with the fish. I'm going to see if a nights sleep helps. Life was stressful. People said "Get fish, they are so relaxing". Then life got crazy, and I still haven't gotten the fish back to the "so relaxing" state yet. Maybe they will get closer once the guppies are gone.

Thanks. I am beginning to think it is time to rehome my fish and hang up my nets for awhile. I hope things look better after a nights sleep.

@ColuI went through my shelve. I have Fritz Complete. Will that work like Prime, or do I need Prime?

@Colu I don't have city water, so I haven't bought Prime. I have Seachem stability and Fritz "7". I can get Prime if you think it is what my tanks needs. Thanks

I'm thinking about maybe a kahili loach stocking cap. Same pattern just extra long with stripes.